Perez

Perez v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

Good Law
319 F. App'x 615
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitMarch 17, 2009No. 06-16965California299 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Plaintiffs appeal from the district court’s dismissal of this diversity action for lack of constitutional standing. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

The district court understood plaintiffs, California auto insurance policy holders, to *617 allege that defendants, auto insurers and an industry organization, “conspired not to compete as to the quality of crash parts such that, in some instances, a policy holder will not receive the full value of the premium.” The district court held that plaintiffs’ claim “is based solely on the anticipated use of inferior crash parts such that [plaintiffs’ injuries are speculative and insufficient to confer standing under Article III.”

The district court misunderstood plaintiffs’ claim. Plaintiffs allege that defendants violated California antitrust law by conspiring to thwart competition over, and to deceive plaintiffs with respect to, repair coverage quality. Such conspiracy and deception, according to plaintiffs, prevented higher quality coverage from reaching the market and artificially inflated premiums for lower quality coverage. Plaintiffs have standing to pursue such a claim. The injury…

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